PodBill Just what I expected

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

thinker1691 This is a film called " The Lost Son. " It was interestingly directed by Chris Menges, and written by a trio of writer led by Eric Leclere. Although this story begins in London, it travels to several world locations. The hero of the movie is Xavier Lombard, (Daniel Auteuil) a soccer playing, chain smoking, Parisian Private Investigator, now living in London, England. He is visited by an old police friend named Carlos (Ciaran Hinds) who invites him to take an 'open and shut, missing person's case' primarily for the money. Lombard begins his search for the missing son, only to discover it involves a child prostitution ring, which put's his life in grave danger and reminds him of an unsolved case which took the life of his wife and daughter. The movie is a dark and sober reminder of the hidden world we live in and despite the exotic locations, serves to illustrate the unsavory elements which most of the world continues to ignore. Among the cast is Nastassja Kinski and Bruce Greenwood who is a surprising and interesting heavy. The movie is slow to develop, but with cinematic patience, one is treated to real gem and eventually a Classic for Greenwood. ****

Tim Kidner Daniel Auteuil has so often blessed us with his shrewd, canny and ultimately modern version of what a typically French man is like today. Not the guachely bombastic Depardieu or the suavity of the leading men of the New Wave era. Unfortunately, Xavier (Auteuil), playing a private eye doesn't really fit into any particular type and neither the script nor he, is individual enough to make him stand out. At least we had Morse, or Wallander to make us want to watch it, when it ran a little slow.The Lost Son, to my mind, plays more like a TV crime drama; gritty, topical but covering too much ground, and a cast with too much variety for the script to flesh out their characters. There's been a fair few French thrillers recently (though this was released 11 years ago) that seem to be basic thrillers. The story is wholesome enough, even if the subject of it isn't and is told in a workmanlike fashion. As the film ended, I couldn't help thinking that as a taster, some inkling of the outcome should be in the opening scene and then it all be told in flashback. As it is, the unfolding is quite slow and laborious, especially for a modern audience.

ricrisci In The Lost Son, a private eye searching for a missing man stumbles upon a child prostitution ring. This film incorporates all of the worst stereotypes you could imagine in a worst-case scenario that exists only in the minds of Hollywood, the press and AG John Asscrap. If you get a chance to see this, you'd be better off getting lost yourself.

Tresy This forgettable bit of vigilantist drivel takes the hot-button topic du jour--child porn--and uses it to flog the audience's basest emotions. There is nothing in this film--nothing--that we haven't seen before: the PI running from his past, the corrupt cop, slimy bad guys, wide-eyed innocent naifs, etc., etc. They even recycle Ciaran Hinds role as the pedarast cop in Prime Suspect 3--a far, far better treatment of the same subject matter. All in all, proof that foreign films can be just as cyniccally manipulative as the most meretricious Hollywood dreck.